The golf bags employed by golfers to transport their clubs around golf courses are usually made of lightweight materials, such as leather, plastic or fabric. These bags are not constructed to withstand the rigors of transport through a public transportation system such as an airline. Consequently, when the golfer travels from one place to another to enjoy the challenges of a different course he or she usually must encase the golf bag and the clubs in a protective cover or container to prevent the clubs and carrying bag from being damaged in transit.
Flexible canvas cover bags have been used by some traveling golfers, but they offer protection usually only against scuffing and scraping and allow the clubs or bag to be damaged by impact blows.
It is not too surprising, then, that others have proposed to provide rigid or semi-rigid containers for shipping golf bags and clubs. Two examples of such prior containers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,143 694 granted Mar. 13, 1979 to F. S. Gregory for "GOLF BAG CONTAlNER" and No. 4,643,302 granted Feb, 17, 1987 to E. W. Baumgardner for "CONTAlNER FOR SPORTS EQUlFMENT". The Gregory bag is adapted especially for golf bag shipment while the Baumgardner container can be formed of two or more tubular sections for transporting other sporting equipment.
A design for another golf bag container is disclosed in an application for a U.S. design patent Ser. No. 07/012,631 filed Feb. 9, 1987 by D. H. Sherer and F. M. Mills for "GOLF BAG CONTAINER". That application is assigned to the same assignee as the present application.
One of the problems posed by these prior rigid containers is storage of the containers when they are not being used to transport the golf bag. These containers are bulky and take up a lot of space.
Some designers have, of course, produced containers with telescopic sections which permit the length of the container to be adjusted. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,919,017 granted Dec. 29, 1959 to F. H. Weber for "TELESCOPIC CARRYING CASE" and No. 4,509,656 granted Apr. 9, 1985 to Peter Rosler for "VARIABLE LENGTH PACKING CONTAINER ASSEMBLY". The packaging systems disclosed in both of these patents require means for interlocking the container sections in various telescopic positions. Such mechanisms are neither required for nor are they economically feasible for a golf bag container which can be of a fixed length. Another problem posed by the containers of the Gregory and Baumgardner patents identified above is that the latches employed to connect sections of the containers are exposed on the outer surfaces of the container and are subject to damage or even dislodgement as the containers are moved about in transport.
There continues to be a need for a reliable golf bag container which can be conveniently stored when not in use.